Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(11)

What would I do without her? Leisel had always told me that I was the strong one, but I knew now it wasn’t true. Not when it was her I needed to keep me strong.

? ? ?

The moon was full, sitting heavy and pregnant in the sky when I heard Mason’s return. I strained my ears, listening intently for his footsteps on the stairs, but he didn’t immediately come for me. I could hear him stumbling around the house, no doubt having drunk too much, probably in an effort to wash away his guilt. Or perhaps he’d forgotten where he’d put me. Maybe he was so drunk that he’d even forgotten what had transpired earlier.

It had happened before, him locking me up for being what he’d considered insolent. There were times that he’d forgotten entirely and let me out without another word about it, looking at me curiously in the dark while he attempted to remember what I’d done to deserve such punishment. Although this—Leisel’s execution—was hardly something I would consider forgettable. But this was Mason, a bumbling idiot, and anything was possible.

As hope blossomed inside me that today was one of those days, I got to my feet and tiptoed slowly toward the door. Pressing my ear against the wood, I listened to his slow and careful steps climbing the stairs, realizing that the footsteps I could hear were slow and cautious, and Mason was anything but. He was clumsy and heavy footed.

The handle on the door jiggled. Glancing around the room, I searched for something to arm myself with, because I would kill him if I had to. I refused to stay in this room and allow Leisel to die, not when there still might be a chance I could do something to stop it.

I decided on the table lamp; after all, it didn’t work anymore. This house—every house—was full of many things that didn’t work anymore, all set up to make us more comfortable, to help us forget the horror outside the walls.

As the handle twisted again, I readied myself to swing.

“Eve?”

Jami!

Bursting forward, I slammed myself against the door. “Get me out of here, Jami, please, get me out!” Again, I tried the handle, twisting it and pulling on it.

“It’s locked,” he said, his voice sounding deeper than usual through the thick door. “Is there another key?”

Though he couldn’t see me, I shook my head in answer. “There’s only one,” I whispered loudly. “But Mason keeps it on him.”

“Fuck me,” he muttered. Several tense seconds passed and then he yelled, “Stand back!”

I dropped the lamp. It fell to the floor with a loud clatter and rolled against my feet. Quickly, I scrambled to the other side of the room just as something heavy banged against the door with a resounding thud. Again and again, the loud noise echoed throughout the room, once, twice, and just after the third bang the door swung open, slamming hard against the wall. As it swung back, Jami caught it just before it could smack him in the face.

Our eyes met, and he was grinning at me, a grin that made me weak for him. I didn’t love this man, but in that moment I felt something damn close to it. Running across the room, Jami met me halfway, and I threw myself up against his chest, pressing my lips against his, all while repeatedly mumbling my thanks.

“How did you know?” I asked when I finally pulled away.

He looked down at me, his eyes searching mine as if assuring himself that I was all right. “You’d never leave her alone like that.” He kissed me again, still grinning against my mouth. “Let’s go get your girl.”

Pulling away from him, I took a moment to really look at him, his handsome face clearly expressing what he’d never said before. “Thank you,” I whispered, feeling overcome.

Taking my hand in his, Jami pulled me through the house, not stopping until we’d reached the back door. There he pulled a ski cap from his back pocket, similar to the one he was wearing, then slipped it over my head and tucked my curls inside it. Grinning again, he pulled his gun from its holster, then led me from the house.

Adrenaline coursed through me, both from the fear of getting caught and the excitement that maybe, just f*cking maybe, our plan would work. And Leisel and I would soon be free of this place.





Chapter Five



Leisel

“You shouldn’t be helping me,” I insisted, watching as Alex hurriedly unlocked my handcuffs. Ignoring me, he finished with my hands, then bent down to work on the shackles encircling my ankles.

“What if we get caught?” I continued, knowing that it was likely we were going to get caught. There were too many people living in such a small space, a place that was heavily guarded. “You’ll be killed alongside me.”

Alex remained as stoic as I’d always known him to be, notorious for saying as little as possible. Finished with my shackles, he shoved them away and got to his feet. I remained where I was for a moment, seated on the hard bench as I rubbed my sore wrists and stared up in wonder at him. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why he was risking his own neck to help me escape.

“I have a truck outside the walls,” he finally said. “Hidden in the woods about a mile and a half from here. Got food and water, a few gallons of gas stored inside. We just need to get there.”

I gaped up at him. With the entire town on our heels, a mile and a half away might as well have been in China!

I shook my head. “We’ll never make it.”